UN team in Bangladesh to meet Rohingya refugees

A UN Security Council delegation arrived in Bangladesh yesterday to try to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Myanmar has come under international scrutiny since a military campaign last August drove more than 700,000 Rohingya from their homes in northern Rakhine state and into crowded camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The UN council is urging Myanmar to allow their safe return and to end decades of discrimination against the Muslim minority. Murders, rapes and the torching of villages by the military and militias have been documented in UN human rights reports.

Yesterday’s visit started in Cox’s Bazar, where ambassadors met refugees. Led by Kuwait, Britain and Peru, the fourday visit is expected to include a trip to Rakhine to allow ambassadors to tour villages affected by the violence, including Pan Taw Pyin and Shwe Zar.

The council will also hold talks with Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticised for failing to speak out in defence of the Rohingya, and with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour Al Otaibi said the visit was not about naming and shaming Myanmar but “the message will be clear for them: the international community is following the situation and has great interest in resolving it”.

Myanmar allowed the council to visit after rejecting accusations from the UN and western countries that the attacks were ethnic cleansing. It said the military operation in Rakhine was aimed at extremists.

President of the International Red Cross, Peter Maurer, said the Myanmar government was rebuilding villages and taking steps to allow the Rohingya to return.

“But what we see is that people don’t yet trust that this will give them safety and security,” he said. “We are at the beginning of the such a confidence-building process. It’s a very long way to go,” Mr Mauro said.